THE PROJECT
THE HISTORY
THE SURVEY
LOCATIONS
Update
Hello all, this project is still open but is currently hibernating. We would love to complete it, but this is very dependent on time and whether we can secure additional funding to pursue it.
Thanks to everyone who has been involved, including those who still are, and all those who visit and comment or share, it has so far been a terrific success, we hope to extend that in the future.
In the meantime we fully intend to keep the site live in its current form, and are still taking any info you have with a view to one day finishing the database as time allows.
Nick & Tim. April 2023.
Recent marker reports
Eastwick, St Botolphs church, Hertfordshire
Location: St Botolphs church, Eastwick Hall Ln, Eastwick, Herts CM20 2QY Details on cross: On Circle: DULCE ET DECORUM EST PRO PATRIA MORT On Cross Beam: LIONEL HENRY SALVIN BOWLBY LIEUT ROYAL SCOTS GREYS KILLED IN ACTON JUNE 4 JUNE 1916 Above appears to be painted on...
White Ladies Aston – St John the Baptist, Worcestershire
Location: Parish Church of St John the Baptist Town/village: White Ladies Aston County: Worcestershire Postcode: WR7 4QQ Details on cross: R. I. P. In Memory Of 2nd Lieut H. S. Sherwood 4th K.S.L.I. Killed In Action 28-8-18 Text type: Black painted Cross dimensions...
Curdworth – St Nicholas and St Peter, Warwickshire
Location: Church of St Nicholas and St Peter ad Vincula, 6 Church Lane, Curdworth, Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham, Warwickshire, B76 9EY Details on cross: Wooden propellor Grave Marker with central metal roundell Engraved in script: In Memory of Lt. Sidney Woodrow...
Castleton – Church of St Mary Magdalene, Sherborne, Dorset
Gerard Montague Gordon, Laurence Fisher Rowe, Harold Talbot Vizard. Location: Church of St Mary Magdalene, Castleton, Sherborne, Dorset, DT9 3SA. Capt. Gerard Montague Gordon, 12/Royal Fusiliers From CWGC: Captain Gerard Montague Gordon, Adjt. 12th Bn., Royal...
Melbury Abbas, Church of St Thomas, Dorset
Lionel Carver Location: Church of St Thomas, Melbury Abbas, Dorset, SP7 0DZ Battlefield cross for 2nd Lieutenant L. H. Carver, 1st Bn., Irish Guards, died 26 May 1918. Details on Cross: RIP in Memory of 2nd Lieut L H Carver 1st Bn Irish Guards Killed in Action 26/5/18...
Unitarian Church, Dean Row, Wilmslow, Cheshire
CLAUDE SWANWICK WORTHINGTON Location: Unitarian Church, Dean Row, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 2BX Details on cross: A plaque on the cross member with the inscription This cross marked the grave of Lieut-Colonel CLAUDE SWANWICK WORTHINGTON DSO Bar TD 6th Manchester Regiment...
Llys Ednowain Heritage Centre, Trawsfynydd, Blaenau Ffestiniog, Gwynedd
Ellis Humphrey Evans - Hedd Wyn Location: Llys Ednowain Heritage Centre, Trawsfynydd, Blaenau Ffestiniog, Gwynedd, LL41 4UB The cross is displayed in a glass cabinet as part of the museum at Llys Ednowain Heritage Centre. It commemorates Private Ellis Humphrey Evans...
Forres (Cluny Hill) Cemetery, Moray, Scotland
W. E. Hamblin A particularly unusual cross, our only returned one made out of Stone. Location: Forres (Cluny Hill) Cemetery, Moray, Scotland. From CWGC: HAMBLIN, W E Rank: Lieutenant Date of Death: 24/05/1916 Regiment/Service: Royal Engineers 5th Field Coy. Grave...
On the blog
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About the project
Wooden Battlefield Crosses and grave markers exist all across Great Britain and indeed across the world. You can find them in churches, memorial halls, chapels, museums and private dwellings. Although various lists exist there is no definitive study of them; the available information is often buried in collections of other memorials. These are deeply personal connections with the people involved in the conflict and form a direct link to the families, loved ones and communities who were left behind.
The aim of this project is to try and provide an online resource which creates a place to find the information about these curious objects, where they exist, how to access them and what they meant a century ago, how they continue to be part of the communities they still exist in and how people continue to engage and respond to them as a link the link to First World War.
Ultimately the intention is to list every single battlefield cross or wooden grave marker returned from the lines in Europe to Great Britain after the war ended. The website will hopefully provide a resource that will give everyone access to information on as many of the locations and as much detail as possible about the stories surrounding the people whose graves they marked in France and their symbolic return to the people they left behind.
We need your help…
You can send us information on your local wooden crosses and battlefield markers, whether it be your own photos, photos you have permission to use from a local archive, details of the building and how the marker has become part of the story of it. We also need your research on the soldiers, their life and service, their families, the incidents surrounding their death and the eventual return of the grave marker to Britain and back to the community where the person came from.
We have provided an easy guide to help you to survey, photograph and research these sites and a rough but growing list of locations which we will hopefully be building on as more information comes to light. We will also be putting together an online guide looking at how and where to research the stories of the men these crosses are named for and how you might be able to look into the story behind them to build an online collection which everyone can use to explore these fascinating memorials.
Contact us
Have you done a survey or do you fancy having a go at one? Maybe you aren’t sure what to do or maybe you have already completed some research on a battlefield cross you’d like to add to the project or share via the website.
Perhaps you think you may have something nobody has seen in nearly a century in your loft or shed? Let us know.
Please send us an email to info@thereturned.co.uk
